Last year, we played a demo of Survivor Mercs, an upcoming bullet heaven (Vampire Survivors-style) shooter with a military theme. At the time, developer Wandering Wizard was targeting a summer release for the game. Well, sometimes things work out better than planned. Survivor Mercs is now due out on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam (where it's currently in Early Access) on April 30. It's not much longer until we get to survive some mercs, baby!

We first ran across Japanese merchandise label Kumagumi when they released a cool line of Double Dragon clothing a few years ago. Well, now they're back with a similarly attractive array of physical goods dedicated to SNK's Metal Slug. Metal Slug, of course, is a series of run-and-gun shooters that began its life on the NeoGeo arcade hardware. The series is known for its attractive pixel art and memorable character designs, to say nothing of the challenging gameplay.

While the mainline Dragon Quest games are single-player JRPGs, the series has numerous spinoffs that mix up the genre and sometimes incorporate multiplayer. Such is the case with Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, a mobile game that just launched on Android and iOS today. Smash/Grow features Vampire Survivors-style combat along with plenty of RPG-style quests and equipment, not to mention 4-player online co-op missions.

Ever since the film Clerks perfectly captured the drudgery and indignity of convenience store work, Jay and Silent Bob have been popular characters. They've popped up in numerous Kevin Smith films, on Degrassi: The Next Generation, and even starred in a series of beat 'em ups. The latest of those beat 'em ups is Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch, and it's out today, a normal day just like any other.

The first Hades is one of the best roguelikes ever made, and a very successful one at that. It makes sense that Supergiant Games would create a sequel. It even makes sense that they would release the sequel on Steam and Switch before porting to current-gen consoles. Xbox and PlayStation fans continued to hope (and maybe even pray) that Hades II would eventually come their way, and their pleas have now been answered. Hades II is out on PlayStation 5 and the Microsoft ecosystem: Xbox Series, Windows Store, and Game Pass. Now all the big boy consoles can join in the mythological fun!

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is a bullet heaven roguelike from Games Farm and Grindstone. As the name implies, the game is based around Norse mythology, and it has very detailed graphics for a Vampire Survivors-style game. Jotunnslayer has just been updated with 2-player local co-op support, which is great news all on its own. Even better, though, the new "Conan" DLC adds Conan the Barbarian as a playable character.

It's always sad when a game developer dies, but especially so when that person is the founder of an actual genre. Yoshihisa Kishimoto is just such a person. He created the Kunio-kun/River City and Double Dragon franchises, and as such, is considered the father of the beat 'em up genre. Double Dragon was instrumental in popularizing cooperative multiplayer, so his influence even extends beyond the genre that he created. Lamentably, Kishimito died on April 2, as reported by his son.

Co-op gamers like ourselves ate very good this past month:

When Hades came along in 2020, it quickly built a reputation as one of the best roguelike games around. Naturally, such a successful game has inspired many others, but how can other developers improve on perfection? With co-op, of course! That’s the clever approach that games like TMNT: Splintered Fate from Super Evil Megacorp and SWORN from ...

The original Everhood is a beloved single-player RPG with music battles for Switch and Steam, sort of a cross between Undertale and Guitar Hero. It did well enough to get a slightly less popular sequel, and now a roguelike spinoff called Everhood Hunters is in the works. Roguelikes are generally pretty awesome (see SWORN and TMNT: Splintered Fate), and this one will feature 2-player online co-op, so it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

The original The Takeover is a beat 'em up from Pelikan13 that is famed for its large characters and impressive graphics. Since the Steam version came out in 2019 and the PlayStation and Switch versions landed in 2021, fans have been clamoring for a sequel. However, as the years stretched on, it seemed like the Take might really be Over. Fear not! The second game will be called Takeover 2 (the budget didn't allow for articles), and it's coming to Steam in September. Hopefully, console versions will follow!

Okay, I missed the announcement when Hotel Barcelona opened its doors on consoles and PC back in September. I mean, it sounds like a hotel and not a game, right? The rain in Spain is mainly on the plain, as they say. It sounds like the game was also a little bit confusing in the gameplay department when it first launched. This month, developers White Owls and Dark Product published the major "Under New Management" update to solve that little problem. The update improves combat, multiplayer, and lots more.